Mainframe A large, multi-user computer often associated with early timesharing systems Dumb terminal A monitor and keyboard that allow the user to access the mainframe computer in early time-sharing systems 10.1 Roles of an Operating System 325 system resources are (in effect) available for use. In essence, however, the resources are being shared among many such users. Originally, timesharing systems were made up of a single computer, often called the mainframe , and a set of dumb terminals connected to the mainframe. A dumb terminal is essentially just a monitor display and a keyboard. A user sits at a terminal and “logs in” to the mainframe. The dumb terminals might be spread throughout a building, with the main-frame in its own dedicated room. The operating system resides on the mainframe, and all processing occurs there. Each user is represented by a login process that runs on the mainframe. When the user runs a program, another process is created (spawned by the

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